Strong earthquake rocks central and eastern Mexico

A magnitude-6.4 earthquake rocked central and eastern Mexico on Tuesday, but no injuries have been reported, the National Seismology Service said.

The earthquake occurred at 5:46 a.m. and its epicenter was located 46 kilometers (28 miles) southwest of Isla, a city in the Gulf state of Veracruz, at a depth of 131 kilometers (81 miles).

The temblor was felt in some areas around Mexico City, where emergency management personnel are conducting inspections, Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said.

"As of now, there are no injured or damage," the mayor said in a Twitter post, adding that "there have been some evacuations" of buildings.

Mexico, one of the countries with the highest levels of seismic activity in the world, sits on the North American tectonic plate and is surrounded by three other plates in the Pacific: the Rivera microplate, at the mouth of the Gulf of California; the Pacific plate; and the Cocos plate.

The Cocos tectonic plate stretches from Colima state south and has the potential to cause the most damage since it affects Mexico City, which has a population of 20 million and was constructed over what was once Lake Texcoco.

The magnitude-8.1 earthquake that hit Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985, was the most destructive to ever hit Mexico, killing some 10,000 people, injuring more than 40,000 others and leaving 80,000 people homeless.

The most recent powerful quake to hit Mexico was a magnitude-7.6 temblor that rocked Colima on Jan. 21, 2003. EFE